HARTEN, EDWARD VON

HARTEN, EDWARD VON (1827–1874). Edward von Harten was born in 1827 in Oldenburg, Germany, and immigrated to New Orleans with his family in 1836. By 1850 Harten was working as a grocer in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he lived with his parents and family. In 1858 Harten moved to Galveston where he operated a grocery. He had married Ann (born in England in 1828), and the couple had seven children.

In 1861 Harten entered service in the First Texas Heavy Artillery. He served first as captain of Company D and was elected major in April 1862. From 1863 through 1865, he commanded Fort Magruder on Galveston Island and sometimes also Fort Rodgers on Galveston Island.

Following the war, he returned to New Orleans, where he worked as a produce commission merchant. He returned to Galveston in late 1867 and entered a business partnership, of which Harten became sole proprietor on the death of his partner in 1869. In 1870 he entered a new partnership with E. K. Nichols, the son of Gen. Ebenezar B. Nichols. Harten joined the Washington Guards militia as captain, to which office he was reelected on December 1, 1872. He seems to have been very well liked, and the Washington Guards organized a brass band serenade to welcome him home in September 1873. Von Harten died in Galveston on January 16, 1874, and is buried in St. Louis, Missouri.

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